FIELD POLL: Plurality now favors overturning death penalty

Supporters of a California ballot proposition to end the state’s death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole now outnumber opponents of the measure, according to a Field Poll survey, and undecided voters could determine the outcome in the Nov. 6 election.

The survey released Friday, Nov.2 shows that 45percent of the respondents support Prop. 34, while 38 percent said they would vote against it. It is the first timethat a survey has shown “yes” votes ahead of those opposed, Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said by phone.

DiCamillo cautioned that the votes favoring Prop. 34 were still below 50 percent, and that the undecided 17 percent will be a factor. “The fate of this initiative will hinge on the swing voters,” those who classify themselves as moderates or nonpartisan. “It may not make it, but it is going to be close,” he said.

Support for Prop. 34 has gained ground recently. Likely voters surveyed in September were at 42 percent for the measure, and 45 percent against. But over the last two weeks of October, the “yes” votes went from 41percent to 45 percent, while the respondents against the measure dropped from 40 percent to 38 percent.

DiCamillo said Prop. 34 proponents’ argument that the death penalty is too costly seems to be changing voters’ minds.

“The bottom line is people are coming to the view that it is more expensive to put people on Death Row than it is to put them in prison for life without parole,” he said. The survey also indicated more voters are now convinced that a prisoner who gets a life without parole sentence will never be released.

The state’s death chamber has gone unused since 2006 because of a judicial review of the lethal injection protocol. There are 726 condemned inmates in California, the most in the nation.

Riverside County has 74 inmates on death row, the highest per-capita number in the state, 1 for every 30,000, while Los Angeles County, with 226 inmates awaiting execution, is at 1 for every 44,0000. San Bernardino County has 37 condemned inmates listed in state prison figures.

Of the condemned inmates who have died since the death penalty was re-instated in 1978, 13 have been executed in California, 57 have died from natural causes, 21 committed suicide and six have died from other causes.

PROP. 32 RESULTS

The Field Poll also reported that voters were trending to vote “no” on Prop. 32, the initiative to stop payroll deductions for campaign contributions. The survey shows 50 percent of surveyed voters were opposed, and 34 percent voting to approve and 16 percent undecided.

The movement toward rejecting the proposition has not been strong, but it has been steady, DiCamillo said, up from 44 percent against in September. “Those kind of trend lines usually spell defeat,” he said.

“While voters are concerned about the growing influence of unions, they are even more concerned with the growing influence of corporations,” DiCamillo said. It appeared the “no” campaign’s message that Prop.32 will give corporations a pass while restricting unions was getting through to voters, DiCamillo said.

Today’s poll was conducted for The Press-Enterprise and other California media subscribers. It was conducted of 1,912 registered voters, 1,566 of whom are considered likely voters, over two weeks: 815 likely voters Oct. 17-24 and 751 likely voters Oct. 25-30. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.